From the first thought to paintings
Example:
LA FUGA # ANHELO [2] … #065
The Creative Process
When I start a new series I usually work in four steps:
- The thought (what will I say)
- The basic visual ideas (photos, self made or researched in the Internet)
- Studies: First drawings and the translation to my abstract language (studies on paper or small pieces of canvas)
- Paintings
To show how I put these steps into practice, I will use the example „Escape” from my recent cycle ANHELO [2].
Step 1: The thought
One facet of ANHELO (Yearning) is the negation of the Here and Know. It is a kind of escape from reality. You want to flee, your thoughts fly away – back to the past or forward to the future … At the end you are landing in feelings like sadness, because the past is gone, or fear of that what will come.
Step 2: The basic visual idea (Someone who flees)
Considering the current political situation of the refugees from the Middle East our mind is full of dramatic pictures … But my focus is not political and for this it was not easy to find a pattern for my first visual studies …
As often, the videos and photos of the dancing theater from Pina Bausch helped me. On the website “theguardian.com” I found a picture which expresses exactly that what I needed. Here is the cut I used as a pattern.
link: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/apr/16/tanztheater-wuppertal-pina-bausch-gebirge-review-sadlers-wells
Studies – Step 3
Mostly I start with realistic drawings to get into a person, a movement, a landscape or whatever the series is about. In this case I started directly with free drawings.
The following (quick) sketches show the steps of the translation into my abstract language.
(1) Ink on paper – (2) Ink and acrylic on Paper – (3) Acrylic on paper
Charcol on paper …
Painting – Step 4
When I am painting I work layer for layer for layer … How much layers I add and how I realize them is unique for each painting. I just follow my feelings. In case of this example I did round about 5 or 6 layers.
This is the result:
